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By: - 17th July 2017 at 12:50 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
FWIW, my old-German is not up to scratch, here is what I make of it.
23. Mai 1940
Um 14.20 Engl. Spitfire abgeschossen
Ausrüstung 8 Mg.
This would translate to:
23rd of May 1940, at 14:20h, English Spitfire shot down, equipped with 8 machineguns.
Open to debate, of course.
EDIT: typo corrected, thank you Antoni
By: - 17th July 2017 at 13:12 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
shot down?
By: - 17th July 2017 at 14:48 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
mogl. Spitfire ?
By: - 17th July 2017 at 14:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Second one looks like:
23. Mai 1940
abgeschossener Engländer am Canal du Nord
ie 23 May 1940, Shot down English at the Canal du Nord
By: - 17th July 2017 at 15:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Photo 2 looks to be a Hurricane.
'Canal du Nord', looks good, a couple of Kilometres west of Cambrai and heads north.
That would be about 60 km from the Spitfire at Wierre Effroy, so close enough to be photographed on the same day...if on official business.
Very many thanks.
Mark
By: - 17th July 2017 at 16:15 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
mogl. Spitfire ?
Very good possibility. "Possibly Spitfire".
By: - 17th July 2017 at 16:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Translation of 'possibly'...möglicherweise.
That could account for why is says 'Spitfire' on the front of the image.
Mark
By: - 17th July 2017 at 16:55 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Second one looks like:
23. Mai 1940
abgeschossener Engländer am Canal du Nordie 23 May 1940, Shot down English at the Canal du Nord
Sorry I had missed the second one. Yes, looks like you are correct. Kanal is written with a K in the German language, but in this handwriting who could tell? ?
By: - 17th July 2017 at 16:57 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Yes "mogl" usually is the abbreviation of... hence the "Possibly" above. I could have been more specific, apologies.
By: - 17th July 2017 at 17:06 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Eric (and Peter): This is the "Canal du Nord" near Cambrai, so they would have used the French spelling, rather than putting a "K". Also, if that abbreviation was "mögl" I think the author would have put in the Umlaut.
By: - 17th July 2017 at 17:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Eric (and Peter): This is the "Canal du Nord" near Cambrai, so they would have used the French spelling, rather than putting a "K". Also, if that abbreviation was "mögl" I think the author would have put in the Umlaut.
Umlauts may not be his strongpoint. I would think that Ausrustung as in item 1 only carries an Umlaut on the second u, not on the third? May be mistaken, German is only a second language...
By: - 17th July 2017 at 17:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
We don't want to make this into a German lesson (although that may be fun!), but the Umlaut on Ausrüstung looks correct. The little line over the third "u" was normal in hand-written German of the 1940s. So I think this "photographer" (if that's what he was) was also an Umlaut expert.
By: - 17th July 2017 at 17:45 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I would say it is the bar of the 't'
By: - 17th July 2017 at 18:56 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I wouldn't say anything as 'old German' or even 'new German' is a foreign language to me!! :o
By: - 17th July 2017 at 21:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
We don't want to make this into a German lesson (although that may be fun!) .....
When do we get onto the use of Eszett (ß) ?
By: - 17th July 2017 at 23:12 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
When do we get onto the use of Eszett (ß) ?
Ah you mean the Dreierles-s? ?
By: - 18th July 2017 at 09:08 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Oder die Ringel-S.
By: - 18th July 2017 at 10:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Scharfes s. ;)
By: - 18th July 2017 at 10:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
We'll cross that Straße when we get to it?...
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By: Mark12 - 17th July 2017 at 12:21
Two photographs to hand both dated 23 May 1940 of crashed British aircraft in France
One clearly a Spitfire, the other perhaps a Hurricane.
My neighbour, a German national and a translator, tells me the writing on the reverse of the images is in the old style, no longer used and he cannot translate with precise accuracy.
Any takers?
Mark